THE highly contagious vomiting and diarrhoea bug norovirus is sweeping across the Island and has been reported in schools, the Hospital, care homes and the workplace.

Those infected with t he illness are being warned to stay at home by the Island’s Medical Officer of Health to prevent further spreading.

Dr Susan Turnbull said that the number of cases of the illness reported to her department, which has also swept across the UK in the past week, was increasing daily.

People who start being violently sick or get diarrhoea should stay away from schools and workplaces and should not go to the Hospital or GPs’ surgeries, she said.

The norovirus outbreak was first reported last week in Jersey when Bartlett Ward at the General Hospital was closed. Today it was announced that the ward was still sealed off. A number of hospital staff have also been taken ill.